Here come the boys: Scotland has a number of top female models, but what about our men?

THERE are very few industries where women are routinely paid more than their male colleagues, but modelling is undoubtedly one of them. The term "supermodel" was coined to describe the kind of beautiful women who don't get out of bed for less than £10,000 and are known by their first names only. Over the past 20 years there have been almost too many to count – Naomi, Christy, Kate, Linda, Cindy, Gisele, Claudia – but their male counterparts have been significantly less well-known.

• Four of the semi-finalists,from left: Scotty Rolland, 19, Hamish Crook, 19, Stephen Lawson, 22 and Rory Taylor, 18

Just a few male models have become well-known to fashion watchers over the years, including Tyson Beckford, Marcus Schenkenberg and, most recently, David Gandy, who shot to fame wearing a tiny pair of white pants in a campaign for Dolce & Gabbana. While there have been a number of top female Scottish models of late – including Kirsty Hume, Honor Fraser and Stella Tennant – the boys have been less well-known.

A Scottish modelling agency hopes to change that, with a nationwide competition to find the next top Scottish male model. Competitions to discover models are nothing new, but they are almost always looking for women.

Glasgow-based The Model Team believe there is a gap in the market for a top Scottish male model and they intend to find him, with a little help from Harvey Nichols Edinburgh and international agency Elite. The winner will be represented and developed by The Model Team for at least six months and have an introduction to Elite Model Management in London, in an attempt to market him internationally.

"Our aim is to reinvent the image of a Scottish male model," explains Cathy Owen, the operations manager at The Model Team. "After years of being presented with stereotypical Scottish hunks modelling kilts in the Highlands, we want to discover a male fashion model with the potential to roam the catwalks of Europe's leading fashion houses, not just the Scottish glens."

I meet Cathy at Harvey Nichols where she has whittled the hopefuls down to ten semi-finalists, who are all about to take to the catwalk for the first time, wearing pieces from Harvey Nichols' autumn/winter stock. To describe them as nervous is an understatement.

"We often find that men are very concerned about people's perceptions of them," she explains. "They worry that people will think they're vain or cocky and they definitely worry about what the lads on their football team might say. I've scouted boys in the past who've turned me down because they see modelling as too effeminate and they worry people will wind them up. So it's a lot more difficult for us to get boys on our books, which is precisely why we're here today."

Aged between 17 and 22, they're all overheating in chunky wool scarves, coats and cardigans. Their jeans are tucked nonchalantly into workboots, their hair coiffed to perfection. They are all attractive in their own way, but are much more varied in appearances than your average group of female models. They range in height from 5'10" to 6'3". Some are classically handsome, others quirky-looking. Some are muscular, others skinny, some very boyish, other rugged.

The Model Team are looking for quirky, high-fashion models, but 20-year-old Matt Snyder, a student from Fyvie, has a slightly more commercial look, and was inspired to enter by his great-uncle, John Hardy, who modelled for Burberry and Aquascutum and others in the 1960s. "I think we share a few similarities," he says. "I've been told in the past that I have model-esque features so when this opportunity came around I thought why not give it a shot? I try not to care what people think. I am aware that people do stereotype male models but I don't think many people would turn this opportunity down. I think that the whole lifestyle sounds fun. And it looks like it can be quite challenging. So far I'm finding that the hardest thing is not looking into people's eyes when you're on the catwalk."

They may have been blessed with good looks and be wearing thousands of pounds worth of designer clothes, but essentially they're all normal young lads, and this is a somewhat alien environment for them. They hold their arms a little awkwardly, and all take a firm step backwards when the stylist suggests they practise their walk.

What follows is like a scene from Zoolander – the Ben Stiller film which spoofs the world of male modelling – as a few of them struggle to get their catwalk turns right, first turning the wrong way, then correcting themselves, then tripping over their own feet.

As a gaggle of excited female dressers hang around the fitting room, one model requests a belt, fearful that his baggy trousers will hit the deck while he's catwalking. "You'll be fine," says the stylist firmly as he demonstrates "the walk," a nonchalant strut with two pauses for posing. Any nerves seem to be ironed out by the time the ten contestants take to the catwalk in front of an audience. But it is, they insist, harder than it looks.

"Walking is the most natural thing in the world, but when you're modelling, you become really conscious of every movement," explains Robert McKinley, a tall, dark and, yes, handsome 22-year-old youth worker from Glasgow, who entered the competition after being approached by a scout from The Model Team while shopping in Sainsbury's. "I'd never dream of going into Harvey Nichols and trying on expensive clothes, so this is a great experience. Some people have told me in the past that I should try modelling, but I always laughed it off. People think they're all stick-thin idiots who can't tie their own shoes, but I don't buy into that stuff. I've had a bit of stick for it, but it's just banter between friends. Anyway, I've told them they're all just jealous."

The biggest male model in the world at the moment is undoubtedly David Gandy, who was a guest at the Scottish Fashion Awards this year, and inspired The Model Team to set up the competition, which will see five finalists selected to walk in a fashion show featuring pieces by Dolce & Gabbana in Harvey Nichols on 3 November. Despite his exotic looks, Gandy is a normal bloke from Essex who says he "saw a gap in the market" for a male supermodel and has lamented the fact that "men are still quite scared of the connotations of looking gay, even in 2010".

The ten young Scots – learning to primp, preen and pose before their turn on the catwalk – insist that being a male model is something to be proud of. "I'm not self-conscious about it at all," says Hamish Crook, a student from Lundin Links. "I hate arrogance, so I suppose I try to play the whole modelling thing down a bit, and I certainly don't use it as a pulling technique!"

Fresh off the catwalk, Crook, 19 – whose mop of cherubic blonde curls sets him apart from the crowd – is disappointed that he missed his cue by a few seconds because he didn't get his shirt on fast enough. "There were too many buttons!" he says with a laugh. "Honestly, everyone thinks this looks easy before they actually try it, but I'm learning that there's quite a bit of skill involved."

The ten take to the catwalk for three shows, walking twice in each show. As the music thumps front-of-house, it's chaos backstage as they strip out of one carefully-composed ensemble and change into the next. A hairy moment is narrowly avoided when one model nearly goes out wearing day shoes with his eveningwear, but otherwise all goes smoothly.

As the boys strut their stuff, Cathy eyes them carefully from the end of the catwalk, trying to pick her top five.

"He's got a great body," she says of one. "We adore his hair," she says of another. "Beautiful face… needs a bit of grooming… a little chunky… cute… quirky…"

The assessments come out as quickly as the models do. But then if she's to find a boy beautiful enough to refuse to get out of bed for less than 10,000, she's got to be ruthless.

• Visit www.modelteam.co.uk for more details.